


Neville's Wedding

by meandminniemcg



Series: Courtship [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 5+1 Things, Character Study, Demiromantic Blaise Zabini, Don't copy to another site, Jewish Neville Longbottom, M/M, Magical Theory, Magical divergence, Mention of lace kink, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 20:05:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18373136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meandminniemcg/pseuds/meandminniemcg
Summary: Shortly before and on the day of Neville's wedding, five people who are close to Neville, and Neville himself, reflect on how he became the wizard he is - a professor, a writer and a man who is happy with his magic and with the love of his life.





	1. Augusta

**Author's Note:**

> A big thank you to keyflight790 for creating this awesome fest, to my awesome beta reader Isabella and to maraudererasmut for sharing her knowledge on Jewish weddings with me.

She didn’t go to the attic often, but this time she couldn’t avoid it: if she wanted her grandson to get married under a Chuppah made from Frank’s talit. For all changes that had happened since her childhood, some traditions were dear to the Longbottom family, and using the father’s talit for the Chuppah was one of them.

Neville had never seen a family wedding, but when she had shown him a memory of Frank’s wedding, pensieved by Elijah when he was still alive. Neville had discussed with her and Antonia Goldstein’s younger brother Aaron, who had become the Rabbi of the British wizarding Reform Schul recently, what elements of tradition he wanted in his own wedding.

As she turned on the light, a man in a portrait stirred. “Oh, hello, Gussie. You’re looking elegant for going to the attic. Do you have a gentleman caller?”

“Good afternoon, Algie. No, I don’t, as much as Neville has grown into a gentleman.” She wondered why she still spoke this politely to Algernon, but maybe it was just that the portrait was just a shadow of the wizard himself, and was punished enough by his solitary confinement in the attic and the ward on his picture to prevent him to appear in other portraits in the house.

“Neville, what has become of him? A waiter? A shop assistant?” Algernon spoke the words with a contemptuous tone.

“I’ll have you know that our Neville grew into a brilliant mind. He is a Herbology professor of international renown, practising at Hogwarts. He wrote books on wizarding culture, and was awarded the Order of Merlin, first class. If I remember well, your Order of Merlin was only second class, and you acquired it when you were older than 50 years. Neville did a heroic deed and participated in saving the wizarding world before he even finished his studies at Hogwarts. And now, he’s going to get married to someone very successful.” Augusta stared defiantly at her brother-in-law.

“Please, tell Neville to introduce our new in-law to me next time they are around.”

“I’ll tell him you would like a visit,” she replied diplomatically, knowing very well that she would not try to persuade Neville to visit Algernon.

She felt ashamed of herself for allowing Algernon close to her grandson when Neville was a child. Even if he had been a Squib or his magic had been weak, she had regretted leaving Neville alone with Algernon to tend her roses. Until today, the nightmares haunted her of Algernon holding a screaming child out of the window and then dropping him. The fact that Neville had bounced off the ground like a Muggle ball and didn’t even have as much as a scratch or bruise afterwards could not reconcile her with Algernon. Nobody knew that she cast a curse on him that day that shortened his life by one year for every attempt to get to a place where Neville was. When he died two years later, she didn’t know if he had tried to go somewhere close him.

She had been sad that her grandson didn’t show any signs of his parents’ strong magic before Hogwarts. But he was her grandson, and she loved him. She had been worried about him and tried to urge him to have stronger magic, hoping against hope that some of her son’s strong magic would still linger in his old wand and that Neville could finally find a way to delve into it.

Until Hogwarts, the magic that saved Neville’s life seemed to be the only bit of accidental magic. Neville never changed colour or shape of any item of clothes or anybody’s hair and he never had any magical strop as all the other kids had.

When he was sent to Hogwarts, Augusta was worried that he might be sent back and that the bouncing when he fell out of the window might have been someone else’s accidental magic. It was a great surprise to her to learn that her clumsy, weak grandson had not only been sorted into Gryffindor, but the hat had called it an honor to sort Neville.

Over the next few months, Augusta discovered that Neville had shown accidental magic, but of a different sort; the flowers in her garden that had all seemed easy to tend to in the last ten years wilted without exception. When she called a herbologist for advice, he told her that she had never kept any of them under the right conditions, and asked who was the herbologist that was mending her mistakes. She had shrugged, maybe thought of Cressida the charms student from next door who would once in a while babysit and later tutor Neville, until Cressida told her that her herbology grade had actually been poor and that Neville had often talked to the plants for hours.

Neville’s grades at Hogwarts had been quite weak apart from Herbology and History of Magic in the first two years, and Augusta had simply believed that his magic was rather weak, because she didn’t know what magic one might need for tending to flowers and learning history. Frank’s wand had not held any secret depot of magical power. Augusta had not dared buy Neville a new wand, assuming, that it would likely prove his magic to be even weaker than people assumed already. It had been for years that people remarked on how caringly she treated her grandson who was nearly a Squib and that for all his handicap he was well-integrated in the wizarding world.

Augusta imagined his life in Gryffindor tower as that of a likeable team mascot, someone who was below par, but liked for his team spirit. It only shook that idea temporarily, when Neville told her that he earned the points that won the house cup by standing up to his friends.

However, in third year, his grades in defense against the dark art picked up, and he wrote long letters about Professor Lupin teaching him how to cope with frightening situations. When Augusta saw Lupin at the Order’s headquarter two years later, she thanked him for helping her grandson, getting as an answer that she should credit him more for his abilities. She knew the former professor was a werewolf, but she was sad that he couldn’t teach Neville throughout his Hogwarts years.

In fourth year, Neville’s defense grades fell again, but he picked up permanently at Transfiguration and Charms, as well as being fairly good at care of magical creatures. Coming home in the holidays, he permanently practised his defense and duelling drills, to an extent that Augusta didn’t know whether to be proud of his patience or warn him that it’s too dangerous and she wouldn’t want him to end up at the Janus Thickey Ward like his parents or die. She felt like a hypocrite after years of telling him she wished he was more like his father who had been brave and a strong wizard.

Augusta kept thinking of him as weak until the day she was told that he had been the one telling Voldemort he would never serve him and killing that hideous big snake with the Sword of Gryffindor.

Her grandson was actually an equally great hero as his father, and he survived the war.


	2. Pomona Sprout

In Pomona’s garden there was a small greenhouse, nothing like the three greenhouses of Hogwarts, but just the size she could work with comfortably after her retirement. In the middle of it, two beautiful Marriage Roses that bent into a heart without any human influence, an indication that Neville and his betrothed were good for each other, because the orchids had been watered with water the two of them had conjured at their engagement. She was going to bring them to the wedding of her all time favourite student and successor.

  
She remembered Neville’s Hogwarts development very well, his clumsiness and lack of self-confidence in first year. But she also remembered the tenderness with which he caressed leaves of plants. He would listen to the rustling of leaves and tell her what the plants needed after the lessons. Most of the times he was right about it, and he would know some of the plants’ needs before she would know them. Even her senses, with her forty years of experience as a professional herbologist, weren’t as fine-tuned to the subtle signals of the plants as Neville’s.

When he had fainted in the first Mandrake lesson, it had been a great shock to him; how would he look after a mandrake well if he could not listen to them? She had taught him the visual and olfactory signs of mandrakes, and he had applied them to other plants. When he successfully detected the condition of other plants by sight and smell, Pomona knew that he was going to be her successor. That was in the first two months of Neville’s third year.

She had had a big argument with Snape about Neville’s magical abilities, after Snape called Neville a semi-troll in the teachers’ lounge. “Excuse you, Neville is the most competent herbology student I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been teaching for thirty-five years now. And, I’ve seen him making individualized fertilizers for different plants with magic. If he can’t make any proper potion in your class, you should take some time to reflect on your teaching methods.”

“You let him touch a cauldron? The hat must have been drunk when they sorted you into Hufflepuff. You’re either the most Gryffindor to ever exist, or you are suicidal,” Snape had yelled.

But when she explained to Neville the signs that signaled what needed to be done and why it helped the plants, he would understand it perfectly and get good results.

She noticed that his magic was very sensitive, and would react like a mimosa pudica, a plant that Muggles were familiar with, but they didn’t know its magical qualities. It would withdraw when prodded too strongly.

When Neville stepped up and declared that he would never serve Voldemort, she was not surprised; after all, she had watched him grow, and she had done her best to teach him to protect what he loved.

Not only had she seen him become a hero, but she had also noticed something else: how another student kept watching him throughout eighth year, and although they never spoke much in her presence, she had known it was just a matter of time.


	3. Hermione Granger ft. Remus Lupin's memories

All Hermione’s friends were wondering if she was using a time turner again; she worked full time as a lawyer and political lobbyist for the Remus Lupin foundation for equality and still found the time to research for a biography on Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. Of course, with the plan to generate publicity both for equal rights for lycanthropy patients and for full social acceptance of marriage equality. While Kingsley Shacklebolt had passed a law that allowed same-sex marriage, conservative families were still disowning their children for homosexuality, and there was no way of prosecuting discrimination. If one was not a famous war hero, or their same-sex spouse, having a partner of one’s own sex often led to a lower income and worse housing conditions, unless you were closeted and claimed to be only roommates.

After an amicable breakup with Ron, she had told her friends about identifying as pansexual; a fling with a nonbinary French healer at an international conference on Squib inclusion had made her aware of that fact about herself, and she had handled it like everything in her life, openly talking to her friends about it and fighting for the right to be herself.

When she had told her friends at pub night, Neville had grinned at her and said, “I’m proud of you,” before anybody else reacted. Back then he had still dated Hannah Abbott, but it hadn’t really worked out. After the breakup, Neville had come out to his friends as pansexual himself.

Hermione had a special present for Neville and Blaise; she had obtained a very elegant looking pensieve with an introspective. To demonstrate its functioning, she had duplicated a set of memories of Remus Lupin’s and Mitchell Sullivan, their 8th year Muggle Studies teacher, for them. In 8th year, Muggle Studies had been obligatory and contained a lot of computer and pop culture, which had led to Blaise’s career choice: producing magic-compatible computers, mobile phones and Internet routers and thus integrating the technology and pop culture into the wizarding world.

But actually, the memories she had asked Professor Sullivan for were just an addition to be fair to Blaise and the reason she gave them this very present was Remus’ memory of Neville.

_“Professor, thank you for making me do something easy today. It was the first time I did a DADA exercise first and didn’t make a fool of myself.” The chubby boy looked at Remus with big shiny eyes, and there was a sadness in his smile that Remus knew from his own smile. He smiled reassuringly at Longbottom and asked, “Do you really think this is so easy? Did you notice that not every student managed it as well as you?”_

_“But it must be easy. I’m almost a Squib. My magic has never been strong.” Remus knew the resignation in Longbottom’s eyes from his own eyes when he thought about his Lycanthropy, but he also knew something else. Being able to smell magic, he knew that Longbottom’s magic was a lot of things, but not weak or underdeveloped; it didn’t smell weaker or like the magic of a younger kid, it smelled as strong and developed as the magic of any other of his students, but the aroma was a bit different from most other people’s magic._

_He remembered that Alice’s magic had smelled similar. He couldn’t tell Longbottom about the scent qualities of his magic, he knew that it was related to his lycanthropy. But he could do something else._

_“I don’t think your magic is necessarily weak; your mother was a strong witch, but it took her longer to find the way to access her full magical capacity. She was one year above me, but I often heard her discuss her studying strategies with her friends in the common room. It was easier for her than for you, because she had a wand that harmonized better with her. I recognize your wand; it’s your father’s,” Remus said calmly._

_“My mother had difficulties in her Hogwarts years? Nobody ever told me.” Longbottom’s eyes became even bigger, and he unknowingly tugged at Remus’ sleeve like a child._

_Remus gave him a reassuring smile. “It might even be that your wand is not as much of a help as it is for others if it doesn’t fit. Is there a reason you use your father’s?”_

_“Grandma thinks there might be some magic of his still stored in his wand.” This was not the first time Remus thought the wizarding world would be better off if magical theory was a subject of its own. This idea was pure superstition. A wand was like a funnel that concentrated magic into the direction the caster wanted it to go into, and the wrong wand was like a funnel with the large opening pointing somewhere the caster didn’t pour their magic into._

_“Your mother was strong, too. Have you tried her wand instead, if your grandma refuses to buy you your own wand?” Remus knew that it was hard to argue with Augusta Longbottom. She was more stubborn than five angry hippogriffs. But as Neville’s magic smelled similar to Alice’s, her wand would probably be better for him than Frank’s._

_“The Death Eaters snapped her wand.” Neville looked down._

_“I’ll write to your grandma and ask her to consider buying you a new wand.”_

_“Do you think I could learn wandless magic? I mean, maybe it’s crazy but if my father’s wand doesn’t help me, maybe if I learn focusing my magic without it then I could find it easier to focus it using it?”_

_Remus wasn’t sure if it could work, only because wandless magic was not so easy; there was a reason why witches and wizards used wands. But perhaps Neville was right. Anyway, there wasn’t much of a risk. Wandless magic was actually less likely to get miscast; the likely thing was that it stayed uncast or undercast or stop too soon._

_“Maybe you can try, but you should stick to spells where undercasting or sudden ends of casting can’t cause problems. No Wingardium Leviosa of anything heavier than a piece of parchment until you’re well experienced.” He tried to give Longbottom a reassuring look. “And don’t expect it to work easily. Most wizards and witches who try wandless magic have to practice for months before even mastering four spells.”_

Hermione herself had learned wandless magic as an adult. It had taken her more than two months until she could reliably cast her first spell, a wandless Lumos. So, the next memory impressed her even more. A real wandless spell was something else than ‘Accio Wand’ where the wand was simply not physically in touch with the person, but the mental connection to the wand was there. Wandless magic was like drawing straight lines without a ruler or circles without a pair of compasses.

Hermione remembered the surprising day in fifth year when Seamus had made a mocking remark because Luna had disarmed Neville, and he had cast a wandless Rictumsempra at her without much ado. When she had told Ron and Harry, they had not believed her, telling her it must have been someone else with a wand casting it. But Remus’ next memory confirmed her memory and astonished her, because it was not from fifth year but from third.

_Students with valentine hearts greeted Remus in the corridor as he approached his study for appointments with his single students. First, he was going to tell Longbottom the results of his research on the boy’s difficulties with the Hogwarts method of learning, then he would help Harry practice his Patronus and other Defense techniques._

_Longbottom was early. He already sat on the window sill opposite the study. “Professor, can I show you something? Could you please unlock the door and then step back without opening it?”_

_Remus unlocked the door and stepped back, and Longbottom beckoned with his bare hand to the door. “Alohomora,” he said._

_The door opened slowly, and Remus and Longbottom entered. “What other spells have you learned wandlessly?”_

_“That very imprecise door-oiling charm,” Longbottom said. “And the cleaning charm you said were the first wandless charms you mastered, Lumos and Nox, Rictumsempra, Avis, Reparo and Muffliato.”_

_“Maybe you can start practicing wandless Aguamenti in the bathroom now. But keep it in the bathroom; pranking Mr. Filch is the advanced level.” Remus grinned at the memory of Sirius making wandless puddles wherever Filch had just stopped drying the floor._

_“By the way, I have done some research on your difficulties. It looks like you are magically divergent. While we can only examine a person’s magic indirectly, there are general patterns of a person’s magic. Most people’s magic follows a pattern that mindhealers call the Pattern A. But there are also a Pattern B and a Pattern C which function a bit different. Pattern B implies that while the magic is strong, it tends to move in waves and spectrally instead of in straight lines, and therefore has difficulties adapting itself to wand use. I’m not a mind Healer, but what I can observe while teaching you, and the speed at which you learn the wandless charms make it very likely that you are a Pattern B Wizard.”_

_“You mean, I’m not the only one who struggles with this?” Neville, who rarely made eye contact with teachers, focused completely on Remus’ eyes._

_“Studies say that seven percent of the wizarding society are Pattern B. It’s a shame that there is not more attention on this. It could help a lot. And from what I remember of your mother, she most likely was Pattern B, too.”_

_The memory shifted to another one, in which Remus sat at his desk in what looked like May and wrote an essay on how to improve teaching methods to be more inclusive for Pattern B students. He mentioned seeing Longbottom doing his charms homework by the lake, then biting a piece off his (licorice) wand that afternoon._

Hermione thought how proud Remus would be if he knew that Neville had participated in developing the Magical Helix, a Pattern B wand, that looked rather like a petrified curl; the magic didn’t move through the wood, but alongside it.

She had heard that Alexandra Shafiq, the first girl to start Hogwarts with a Helix would be the ring bearer tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That unprecise door oiling charm = lubrico. Not really for oiling doors, but Remus had to come up with a non-sexual use for it when Neville asked what was the first wandless charm he mastered...


	4. Harry

As usual, since he and Draco had started dating, Draco made sure Harry was dressed perfectly for the occasion. They both were wearing identical suits in a grey, which was the perfect compromise between their complexions. And presently, Draco fastened a Kippa with multiple bobby pins and cast a spell or two in Harry’s wild-as-usual hair.

“Do I look okay now?” Harry asked.

“As perfect as a best man is allowed to look. Anything more would mean stealing the grooms’ show in other people’s eyes, too. In mine you always will.”

“Sap.”

“That’s your effect on me.”

“I love you, too.”

“Thirteen-year-old me would freak out if he could see me today, and all he would have had problems with are the best things in my life.” Draco stated, brushing the last of Harry’s wild strands of hair into place, then putting his own Kippa on. “Being Blaise’s best man as he gets married to Neville, for whom I had only contempt until the moment I saw him with the sword of Gryffindor in his hand. I had always considered him almost a Squib. And now he’s the deputy headmaster, writing bestsellers about wizarding culture.”

“Neville was always good for a surprise.” Harry grinned.

He remembered how Neville had stood up to them in first year, how Neville had done his best all the time without complaining, brushing off other people’s mocking remarks and just tried again, how he had trained with Dumbledore’s Army, never giving up.

They all had seen Neville as weak, but they had been impressed by his discipline, trying again and again.

After the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry had often thought that it was no wonder that Neville had been the one wielding the Sword of Gryffindor and killing that hideous snake. He thought that actually, Neville was the bravest of them all, having all the time been considered weak and clumsy, but fighting with all his might. Speaking up and telling Voldemort that he would never serve him, where so many other students had not dared open their mouths. Harry was sure that it was easier to fight when you have always been told that you are strong than when people tell you that you are almost a Squib.

But there was a lot they had not known about Neville. Only in Eighth year, they found out that Neville was actually brilliant at wandless magic, that he had deep thoughts on different cultural questions, and set to work on an introduction to wizarding traditions for Muggleborns as soon as the war was over. When the book was published, it soon became a bestseller, not only among Muggleborns. It kicked off a movement called wizarding classics, with the aim of opening good traditions formerly just practiced by purebloods to halfbloods and Muggleborns, while discarding bad traditions and on the other hand making Muggle traditions and activities more widely known in wizarding Britain. Soon younger purebloods and Muggleborns bonded over football and celebrated Beltane together, as they never had before.

Harry knew that he could never have done that; he was far too impatient and hot-tempered, but Neville with his calm unintrusive kindness and his sense of humor, that never mocked anybody but was sure to make people laugh was the person who had what it took to convince.

And he had Blaise as a helper who got the Slytherins on board.


	5. Blaise

Blaise looked at his reflection in the mirror. Neville was going to enjoy seeing him in this white lace lingerie so much. Then he put on his white bespoke suit, attached his kippah with a mild but strong enough sticking charm, because his hair was a bit too short for hairpins; it was everywhere just long enough to curl into one full circle, as was the latest fashion for his hair structure.

In his mind, he went through the words of his vow, both the gay modification of the traditional one, that was used in the British wizarding Reform Schul and his own words he wanted to add.

A free house elf in a fantasy uniform that looked like from the cover of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely-Hearts Club Band Apparated in and squeaked, “Mr. Blaise, Herby has been preparing the Cottage for the wedding night. Everything is being to the Messrs. Zabini-Longbottoms’ liking, including the vegan strawberry crème Mr. Blaise has been asking for.”

“Thank you, Herby.” Blaise grinned smugly, thinking about what they would do with the strawberry crème. Strawberries always reminded him of the first time he had seen Neville use wandless magic.

_It was the day before the third Triwizard Task. He could not take his normal walk, because a big portion of it was closed off. But he needed a lonely walk; he was tired of hearing Draco rant about Potter or the other Slytherins rant about Draco’s Potter obsession, so he walked around the greenhouses. Behind the second greenhouse, he saw Neville levitate a strawberry wandlessly, cast an also wandless Aguamenti at it from his index finger, and then catch it with his mouth._

_When he had told Draco about it, the blond had laughed and told him he had a sunstroke. If Longbottom had enough magic to cast wandlessly, then Filch might join a Quidditch team. Blaise had started distrusting his own perception in this matter; he thought probably he had just dreamed it._

_However, he kept an eye on Neville, and sometimes he had the feeling that something was off about the wand he was using. It seemed as if he had two different ones._

_Time went by, and Blaise tried to ignore his curiosity about Neville. He suppressed it when Umbridge demanded that he join the Inquisitorial Squad, threatening to expose how his mother conducted her marital affairs. He wished he could do something else than act like nobody was pureblood enough for him, but he had to protect himself from the threats Umbridge posed, not only while she was at Hogwarts. Nobody knew that he was trying to get a bad reputation and make everybody on whom he might be told to spy keep away from himself._

_It was only after the war, in eighth year, when he was free to act upon his curiosity about Neville. He sat next to the Gryffindor at Muggle Studies, and they started a tentative friendship. In those days, Blaise shagged around a lot, and one day, as he had a few too many, he asked Neville if he would like to shag._

_“I’d rather not ruin our friendship with a one-off,” Neville replied, and Blaise was very surprised that Neville really seemed to value his friendship._

_“Yeah, you’re right. It’s a stupid idea.”_

  
Now, Blaise left his dressing chamber and walked into the garden of Longbottom Hall, where the wedding was going to take place. He went to where Draco was waiting for him, being his Best Man, while Harry was Neville’s.

He remembered how Neville wrote articles for the Quibbler while still at Hogwarts, about similarities between wizarding and Muggle traditions and about how culture has always been a dynamic thing that thrives when different influences come together and enrich each other. He traced popular wizarding traditions to Muggle origins and Muggle traditions to wizarding origins, proving that they were like the two sides of one coin.

_Blaise sat down in the Eighth year common room next to Neville. “Hey, Nev. Are you writing the Transfiguration essay?”_

__

_“No, I finished it yesterday. This is an article on how wands were developed from enchanted ceremonial walking sticks that were the sign of an elder in many cultures, both Muggle and magical. They decreased in size when Muggles needed their hands free to ride horses, and we needed them free to ride brooms.” Neville gestured animatedly, which he had only started to do after the war as if a curse limiting his mobility had been broken._

__

_“That’s fascinating. I can’t imagine Binns assigning such an interesting topic.” Blaise grinned. A passionate Neville was splendid to look at._

__

_“It’s not for Binns. Luna promised to send the article to her father; maybe it will be in the Quibbler soon.” A light blush appeared on Neville’s face._

It had taken years of platonic friendship after these events for Blaise to figure out that he had deep feelings for Neville. He had not just sexual feelings which he was so familiar with, but a different kind of feelings he had never known before: romantic feelings. He had always considered himself aromantic until his feelings for Neville made him rethink this. As he knew that he also loved Neville romantically, he started identifying as demiromantic.

But he had believed for a long time that his love was unrequited, and though Neville appreciated their friendship, it would never be more than that.

It all had changed the day Blaise had a meeting with Ron and George Weasley at an Italian restaurant that was run by Muggles; the owners had magical siblings and children and the restaurant had one room called the Reunion Room that only those who knew about magic were informed about. Blaise had chosen it because he knew he might see Neville there talking to parents of a Muggleborn student.

_When George had gone to the restroom, Ron seized the moment to say, “I’ve been accused of having the emotional range of a teaspoon, but even I see your head turn with every time the door opens. You should tell Neville you love him. He loves you, too.”_

__

_“But the one time I asked him if we could shag, he said no.” Blaise hated how whingy his voice sounded._

__

_“Zabini, ‘let’s shag’ is very different from ‘I think of you all the time and want to grow old with you and make you happy as long as we both shall live. And that includes that if you want me to, you’d be the only one I’d shag.’ Maybe you should try saying that. At least if you feel it like that.” <_/p>

__

_Blaise longed to discuss it with Draco, but Draco had disappeared in those days. But when Harry Potter asked Blaise for informations on the case of Draco’s disappearance, a case that made him drop the plan of a sabbatical, he found the courage to ask him for advice on choosing courtship gifts to court Neville properly. Blaise knew what was appropriate to give, but Harry knew better which décor Neville would like most. It was the happiest day in Blaise’s life so far when Neville invited him into his house after the date at the end of the twelve courtship days._

“Hello, Blaise.” Astoria called out to him, stepping closer and greeting him with kisses on the cheeks. “You’re looking great. Cousin Nev is a lucky man.”

“I think I’m luckier; Neville is the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Blaise, are you ready?” Aaron, the Rabbi called out. In the process of Blaise’s conversion, they had become good friends. “As soon as Nev is here, it’s time to sign the ketubah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ketubah is the Jewish Marriage contract.


	6. Neville

His heart was racing, but he felt the same calm feeling of rightness he would usually feel when he tended to his most sensitive plants. In this day, in this hour, Blaise and he were the plant he tended to, and it felt amazing. They had signed the ketubah with their handwriting and their magic, and cousin Astoria had signed as a witness. Neville circled Blaise three times, then Blaise circled him three times, and the seventh circle they both went together.

All their friends and relatives were there, both those who had always been his friends and those who had called him a Squib in their Hogwarts years. He had proved them wrong and then forgiven them. But he hadn’t forgiven most of their parents who had taught them to look down on others. It was not surprising that there were only very few people of their parents’ and grandparents’ generation invited. His grandmother was here, as were Molly and Arthur Weasley, Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout, and (a bit younger than their parents) Kingsley Shacklebolt, but nobody of Blaise’s relatives or parents of his friends, although around 100 people were invited.

As Aaron sang the Sheva B’rachot (the seven blessings), Neville thought about how Blaise and he had gotten together. They had spent a lot of time together in eighth year, and even though Blaise probably didn’t know it, he had given Neville the self-confidence to send his articles to the Quibbler. He remembered almost having his first time with Blaise in those days; it had been a temptation, but Neville didn’t do sex without commitment and Blaise only did casual sex in those days. It had changed nothing about his crush on Blaise, even a one-and-a-half-year relationship with Hannah Abbott hadn’t changed anything. He felt happiest around Blaise, and Blaise’s bass voice was ubiquitous in his dreams.

_“Nev, we have to talk. Now!” Hannah’s voice sounded sharp._

_“’m sleeping.”_

_“Neville, please.”_

_“Okay, okay. Just give me a minute to wake up properly.” He sat up, rubbed his eyes and stared at his girlfriend._

_“Nev, I just can’t go on like this.” Hannah got up and paced the floor. “I-I think we have to break up.”_

_“Have I done anything wrong? I’m sorry if I hurt you.” Neville stroked the wood of the headboard trying to get some comfort from the ripples of the grain._

_“No, it’s – you mean very much to me, but recently when we have sex, images of someone else creep into my mind. I – I hate myself for it, but it keeps happening. I can’t get the images of him handling the food off my mind, and you covering me in chocolate sauce yesterday made it even worse. My brain kept thinking of his hands.”_

_Neville felt sad, but he noticed that he didn’t feel angry or jealous. He knew it was Gregory she was thinking of. But he reminded himself that his mind hadn’t been as monogamous as his body._

_Tears rolled down Hannah’s face. Neville got up and put his hand on her shoulder. “I guess our relationship has fizzled out for a while now. Maybe we’re better as friends.” He didn’t know where that came from; he should be angry, desperate, hate Gregory and Hannah, but there was just the sadness of cutting a sick branch off a tree to keep the rest of the tree alive and healthy. It wouldn’t be the same, but it would heal._

Hannah and Greg sat among the guests, and Hannah, who was pregnant, had asked him to be little Emily or Andrew’s godfather.

Today he was glad that Hannah had freed him from the dilemma of still fancying Blaise while dating her. Being with her had been sexually good, but Blaise was his one and only, the one with whom he never thought of anyone else.

When his friends had started trying to persuade him to date again, he had told Harry, Ron and Hermione about his crush on Blaise. They had understood him, and as far as he knew kept his secret.

Trying not to think of it, he hadn’t even been aware of Blaise no longer having casual sex until Hannah and Greg had discussed it in his presence, speculating on whether someone might have found a way to Blaise’s heart, or if he was just bored with it.

Neville had been worried until the day something surprising happened.

_He opened the greenhouse door after his morning watering tour, when a spot in the sky, approaching, caught his eye. Soon he recognized two Eagle owls, carrying a packeted potted plant. They let it down carefully at his feet and sat, stretching their legs, so he could untie the plant from them. He gave them owl treats he had packeted for his own owl, untied them and opened the paper and gasped. Inside was a Manus Amoris orchid, a very rare and expensive plant, that could be used to brew the best lube one could think of, just using the leaves of fallen-off blossoms. A card was clipped to it._

> _Dear Neville,_  
>  It may have taken me some time but I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s nobody else out there who compares to you. I don’t know if I’ll ever be good enough for you, but I love you and want to court you and then grow old with you. Could you imagine giving me a chance?  
>  Forever yours, if you want me to be  
>  Blaise 

_Neville felt like going to him immediately and snogging him senseless, but he had to stick to tradition. That meant a thank you letter after the third, sixth and ninth gift and the answer only at the date at the end of the courtship. He could only express an appreciation in the letter._

_The next day, he received a box with assorted teas, four wizarding teas imported from France and three exquisite Muggle teas. And that although Blaise had no interest in tea at all. There was a Rooibush Moly tea for difficult conversations, Shrivelfig Matcha for cheerfulness throughout the day, Dittany Oolong against lingering sadness, as well as Passion flower-Moonstone rose tea for hot nights (with a sticker: For us to drink it t if you want)._

_That day, Neville’s students asked him what made him so happy._

_The next morning, an owl brought a self-filling and boiling teapot and six big cups. He filled one with a bit of the Muggle tea, an Earl Grey. The cup turned burgundy with a writing in a sage color: ‘You are amazing and loved.’ When he emptied the cup, it was white again. After refilling it, the writing said: ‘Blaise is looking forward to seeing you again.’ When Hannah and Greg visited him, Hannah’s cup said, ‘You’ll be pregnant soon’, while Greg’s cup said, ‘People will remember your baking more than your teenage years.’_

_After a spelltop that was capable to receive the Muggle internet as well as the wizarding interweb, and the most expensive working outfit Neville had ever owned, Blaise sent him a Russian chocolate cheesecake for day six, on a plate that adapted in size and style to the cake on it. Neville was astonished. The courtship gifts were expensive and luxurious but without ever going over the top._

_This impression was confirmed by the spelled-to-fit Armani suit and the lion-and-snake cufflinks he received on seventh and eighth day. At the fitting session with the shoemaker Blaise had booked, Neville left a letter for Blaise after finding out that he was going to come there later._

> _Dear Blaise,_  
>  Thank you so much for all those fantastic courtship gifts. It may be against convention to say so in my thank you letter, but I can’t wait to see you on our courtship date. And I hope you can take the day after it off, it will be a Sunday after the ritual schedule. We could make the best of it.  
>  Yours, truly yours,  
>  Neville 

_He swapped chaperoning the Hogsmeade weekend and asked his two best seventh years to do the morning watering of the greenhouses on Sunday for three Galleons each, so he could stay in bed with Blaise all day if he wanted to._

_Tenth day’s gift was a blue lace lingerie set, knickers, fishnet stockings and a garter belt with a note:_

> _Dear Neville,_
> 
> I have a kink for lace, both on my body and on the body of the one I sleep with. If you don’t like to wear lace, it’s okay, I love you whatever you wear, and I want to grow old with you, but maybe you’ll share this kink with me. Regardless, I don’t want to sleep with anyone else anymore.
> 
> __
> 
> All yours,
> 
> __
> 
> Blaise
> 
> __

_Friday, the eleventh day of the courtship, Blaise sent him a Mature Wheeze corresponding bath bomb with the instruction to take a bath at exactly nine o’ clock. As he soaked in the bathtub, he felt on his own body how Blaise touched himself._

_On Saturday, at ten am, Blaise picked Neville for their date. He extended a chopstick to him, a portkey. They spent the day in a small town in Japan, looking at the night-blossoming Mimbulus floralis japonicus blossoms, and watched a private performance by two world-renowned figure skaters, a gay couple. “Don’t they remind you of our friends?” Blaise smirked._

_“Only Harry is more strong than elegant, and Draco is less patient and snarkier.” Neville chuckled. “And they only just started dating yesterday.”_

After the Sheva B’rachot, Blaise slipped the wedding band on Neville’s finger with the words: “Harei atah m'kudash li b'tabaat zo k'dat Moshe v'Yisrael. I promise to be yours forever, the one who makes the place we live in your home, who provides for you and who loves you. I never told anyone, but the memory of when we went bathing in Japan is the memory that made me able to conjure my corporeal Patronus.”

_On their courtship date, they exchanged their Portkey for one that would bring them back when it was Sunday evening in Britain. They bathed in the hot springs, and got a room in which they ‘avoided portkey-lag,’ getting shag-lag instead. Neville was self-conscious as he shed his clothes; he hadn’t stayed as toned in peace-time, he had muscles, but the chubbiness had come back._

Blaise, however had just smiled at him and said, “You have all I ever wanted, the strength and the softness. You’re perfect for me as you are.”

Neville slipped the wedding band on Blaise’s finger. “Harei atah m'kudash li b'tabaat zo k'dat Moshe v'Yisrael. I promise to be yours forever, the one who makes the place we live in your home, who provides for you and who loves you. Your friendship gave me the courage to write my books, and your love helped me to feel at home in my body as it is.”

“And you should, Nev. You’re gorgeous.” That was not part of the ceremony, but it made Neville happy.

Aaron placed a big glass wrapped in a napkin on the floor, and Blaise and Neville stepped on it. The ceremony ended with the guests shouting, “Mazel Tov!”


End file.
